Being Back, And Gold in the Silence

My book did not get finished, though the first draft is very close to completion, and I am quite excited about it.

The reason for my delay was an extremely bad bout of mutant cold almost since the day springs quarter started. Barely got to all my classes, and skipped work for a week. Nausea, flue, chills, sweats, violent coughing, vomiting, fever. I basically didn’t eat or sleep much at all. I am currently on a dizzying array of pills and the world swims.

But the reason I bring it up at all is because of what I discovered. In the very first stage of my illness, I lost my voice, coincidentally on the day that a bunch of my family came over. I spent the entire evening listening to conversations, and making signs when I needed to. But I noticed something beautiful in this silence. I noticed a lot more, in fact. It was a strange experience, as I am generally used to be the one sustaining conversations, telling jokes, making arguments, and so forth. And yet, I loved it. I heard and saw so much in the silence! So many hidden things, details and subtleties poured forth and I sat capturing them in my quiet gaze. And I wondered about all the things that people miss because they aren’t looking, and how much people don’t hear because they are talking.

I also had a vision, a vision of love and truth, and it came to me in hard-hitting arguments. I’m going to see if I can do the next sermon on it, but first I’ll probably put up the rough thesis here.

Until then, take a minute, or a day, and listen. See if people are too happy to talk about themselves to notice.